“This place is quiet on the whole. Just guests and a few extras who come here to walk and take advantage of the café. It’s pretty easy to spot someone who doesn’t fit. If you notice anyone you don’t like the look of, call me and I’ll come right away. I live close by. And if you need to be smuggled out, I have a van.”

She froze. Maybe not a Sexy Carpenter, she thought. Maybe someone less wholesome who gave his victims a sense of security before he finished them off. A man you would never suspect.

Joel muttered something under his breath and gave her a mortified look. “I can’t believe I just said that. I sounded like a serial killer, didn’t I? Just to clarify, the van is for my climbing gear. In my spare time, I climb.”

“Right.”

“It’s true. It’s the reason I chose to live here. Well, not the only reason, but one of them. The van’s a mess. Full of ropes, and— ropes for climbing, obviously.” He broke off and shook his head. “I’m going to stop talking now because every time I open my mouth, I’m making it worse.” His apologetic smile was so attractive that she found herself smiling back. Or maybe she was smiling because he was so adorably flustered.

“Don’t worry. Most serial killers don’t announce themselves before they invite you to step into their van.”

“I’ll remember that.” He pulled a card from the pocket of his jeans and put it on the side table. “That’s my number. If I can help, use it.”

Another person would have been touched by the offer, and it made Nicole sad that she couldn’t be like that. Unfortunately she’d learned to be wary of everyone. “Thank you.”

There were times when she wished her brain didn’t work the way it did. Times when she wished she could meet someone and not question their agenda.

But this was who she was now, and there was no changing it. Which was why she waited until he left before carefully locking the door behind him.

Chapter 7Milly

Milly headed along the path to Beech Lodge, rehearsing her script in her head, partly because that way she didn’t have to think about Nicole and partly because she was very bad at difficult conversations and the only way for her to get through them was to practice until she was word-perfect. If she didn’t do that, she stuttered and said things she didn’t mean like It doesn’t matter, don’t worry about it.

Thanks to her newfound assertiveness skills, she was confident (more or less) that she could handle the situation with Brendan Scott.